Jury awards delivery driver $50M after spilled Starbucks hot tea disfigures penis
Starbucks has been ordered to pay $50 million to a Postmates driver after its hot tea scalded his penis. (Photo from Shutterstock)
Starbucks has been ordered to pay $50 million to a Postmates driver after its hot tea scalded his penis.
A Los Angeles County jury on Friday gave the award to Michael Garcia, who in 2020 picked up three hot tea drinks from a drive-thru window at Starbucks in southwestern Los Angeles County. He said in his lawsuit against the company one of the drinks was not secured in its cardboard carrier, which caused it to spill in his lap.
Nick Rowley, the co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice, who represents Garcia, said his client suffered “an awful, awful injury,” Courthouse News Service reports. Trial Lawyers for Justice is a law firm that aims to help families and victims of brain injury, spinal cord injury, wrongful death, crashes and medical malpractice.
As a result, Garcia was severely burned and taken to the emergency room. He later received two skin grafts on his penis, which is permanently discolored and disfigured. He also experiences debilitating pain.
“He’s a different person,” Rowley said. “This will affect every facet of his life.”
Rowley noted that surveillance footage from inside the Starbucks showed that a barista only secured two of the cups before handing the drinks to Garcia.
Jaci Anderson, the director of corporate communications for Starbucks, said in an email to Courthouse News Service the company sympathizes with Garcia but thinks that the award was “excessive.”
“We plan to appeal,” Anderson said. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
In a similar case in 1992, a jury awarded a 79-year-old woman $2.7 million in punitive damages after hot coffee from McDonald’s spilled in her lap and caused third-degree burns, Courthouse News Service reports. A judge later reduced the award, and the parties settled for a confidential amount.
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